Choosing to Self-Publish

The stereotype persists that self-published authors are second-rate, and that they wouldn’t make it on the traditional route. The fact is, many of us have spent months or years producing what we believe is good work, and we aren’t willing to let an overwhelmed, underpaid reader decide if our books are going to make it into print. Self-publishing also allows us to maintain control over the finished product, and to realize a much greater profit if the book sells. I’ve published one book with a traditional publisher and five on my own. I’m sticking with what works for me.

I wrote an article a few years ago, called “The Bumpy Road to Self-Publishing Success,” which appeared in the June 2007 issue of The Writer magazine. Here’s the article as I wrote it, and here’s how it looked in the magazine. I would love to hear from other self-publishers, as well as writers who are considering that route.

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As you know, I self published my book, and though it never made it as a best seller, I have sold enough copies that I’ve made my money back. And it’s always there as something to help show off my “expertise” in one of my fields. I have nothing but respect for people who do self publish, although one still hopes that they’ve gone through the process of multiple edits.

It may not be a bestseller, but if you’ve made your money back, then it’s a “better-seller” than a lot of books that are published. (Hey, maybe we should start a better-seller list and put our books on it.)

And maybe you can include mine as well 😉
Mr Charles I am totally new to blogging and haven’t even started as of yet, I am just trying to take my time and see how it works around here. I have almost read all your posts and am really very impressed. You posses great writing abilities and i sure envy you for that. I would love to get your expert comments when I start posting.
Thank you.

I remember stumbling across the magazine version of your article about a year ago, and I’m enjoying the as-I-wrote-it version now. I’m curious, do you have any experience with e-publishing and any thoughts on that you’d like to share?

I tried to convert a couple of titles to Kindle format a few years ago, with very little success. I’m planning to try again soon. I have been selling e-books through a company call TecKnoQuest. Sales have been low, but that may be more because of the nature of my books, rather than the technology. I think the e-book market is growing rapidly.

I haven’t actually tried to get published traditionally. Whenever I think about it, I keep seeing in my mind’s eye, camels trying to squeeze their lips through needles.

I would love nothing more than to be published but, self-publishing might make me feel second rate, like nobody wanted me to begin with. And you are right, people (including me) look down on those authors as inferior. I feel as if a traditional publisher would somehow ‘validate’ me/my efforts and will try to expose you to a wider market so that you can get more readers…maybe a Rowlandesque franchise or three. I’m not greedy. Yours is a different story in that you have already got one book that was accepted and published by someone other than yourself so I guess you have nothing to prove to anyone.

At what point do you say ‘I quit this b****’ and just do it yourself?

Although when all is said and done, ‘Author’ still sounds better than ‘Writer’.

Nwunye, I think of self-published writers as authors, every bit as much as those signed by traditional publishers. The market has changed with the economy, and publishers are less willing to assume the risk of taking on an unknown writer. Not that it can’t be done, but it’s harder than ever. You can lose months, and even years, waiting for a response — and more often than not, the response will be a rejection. I think Rowling’s first Harry Potter manuscript was turned down by nine or ten publishers before someone accepted it. If you’ve written a book that you believe in, and think should exist, then publish it yourself. With print-on-demand services, there’s very little risk or financial investment. If it sells, you can always approach a traditional publisher with it (but by then, you may not want to).

we have just self-published our daughter’s first novel ‘flames of fire’ on amazon. she is only thirteen. I believe self publishing is a great tool. It makes possible something that was unthinkable a few years ago.
I enjoyed reading your article. It gives solutions to different aspects of self publishing in a nutshell.

Hey Bronxboy, I think you misunderstand me. When I say ‘Author’ is better than ‘Writer’ I was conceding your point. No matter what issues I have with self-publishing, the fact remains that people that choose to go down this route are authors, while I’m still here struggling with all my issues.

I really liked this article. I’m planning, unless something magical happens to self publish a collection of poems. I’ve been working on this collection for three years now editing and re-editing ad nausea and hopefully that will show in the book when its done.

I agree with you that self published authors are looked down upon, but with the economy being as it is I don’t see publishing companies gearing up to take risks on unknown writers. But I this forces the author to think more in terms of the business of writing which can be a good thing sometimes.

Self-publishing definitely forces the author to assume a wider range of responsibilities. But I think one of the most important aspects of it is the fact that the writer decides how much time to give a book to find its audience. Traditional publishers don’t have that kind of patience.

I use CreateSpace. Have you looked into it? They do a great job, and the printed books look just as good as those coming from a traditional printing house. Let me know if you have specific questions and I’ll try to answer them, or find the answers for you.

I’ve actually been leaning towards both worlds (traditional with one piece of work in mind and self-publishing with another), but you have me wondering if I shouldn’t just nix the idea of the traditional route entirely. The novel I’ve been fixed on going through a regular publisher with is still in the self-editing stage but it’s one that, in my ever hopeful mind’s eye, I see one day resting on a bookshelf someplace in the likes of Barnes and Noble. I didn’t think self-publishing could ever take a book much beyond people buying it online and friends/family being nearly its only readership. Your article points out that there’s a lot more work to roll your sleeves up for (I hadn’t even considered things like ISBN numbers!) but it sounds like the potential outcome is more than worth it.

I just published my first novel in fact. I am pleased with the availability of programs for more authors to do this, I think it is a fantastic way for the writer to get the most profit for their hard work. It does not come easy however, social networking is greatly involved and most of the time you have to promote the book yourself, but with hard work comes great rewards! (I hope)

And the hard work isn’t limited to self-published authors, Kirstie. More and more, traditional publishers are insisting that authors take on greater responsibility for promoting their books. Obviously, if you can break into that stratosphere of authors who write automatic bestsellers, the potential reward is almost limitless. But for the rest of us, self-publishing can definitely be more lucrative.

ive had interest from a few top agents, but they all said i needed to build my audience more on facebook and twitter. so, i’ve been looking into self publishing to see if it’s worth it. it just seems so expensive, at least with the couple of companies I have looked into, like xlibris, for instance. Who, I might add, are very aggressive with sales calls.

Look into CreateSpace, Monica. The financial investment is almost zero, and your books will be sold on Amazon, right alongside every other book they feature. I’ve used CreateSpace for four books and have been extremely happy with the results. Email me if you want to discuss it further. I’d be glad to answer your questions, or at least help you try to find the answers.

It is quite amazing and encouraging to see how self publishing changed the world for authors (and writers lol).
I could not agree more that one’s hard work, effort and bright ideas hanging on the whim of a reader/agent who might just be in a foul mood on the day that your manuscript is being reviewed, and that is the end of one’s efforts.
I have heard many success stories on self publishing and turning into top sellers.

I like your blog and your many interesting topics. Certainly had me laughing at some of the postings.
‘I only recently started blogging and do not have too many followers, but i am hoping that it would increase as my “fascinating” musings might hopefully interest many!

Thanks for the link to createspace – I checked it out and it looks the way to go.

I have a few manuscripts in the works and I am anxious to get them published – I can see Hollywood calling!

Didyou create your own covers and chose your own stock paper or how did that work? And do you get the IBN #?
Thanks again for the laughs and the interesting post in this issue.

I’m sorry it’s taken me so incredibly long to notice your comment and questions. I did create my own covers, which probably explains their almost total lack of artistic flair. They’re clean and basic, and that’s about all you can say about them. You can order ISBNs from Bowker.com. It’s fast and easy, and relatively inexpensive. Don’t publish a book without one.

my husband is totally on the side of having me self-publish. We met through the printing business, in fact; he makes quality-control software for printing companies, I have a degree in electronic prepress (which is a fancy name for “I know all the things involved in taking a document from design to print”). I totally know how to make a quality, professional book myself.

It’s the marketing and distribution that would play to my weaker side.

And I would absolutely want an editor. However, I just happened to discover that my brother has a keen eye for that kind of thing. Seriously, he’s good.

So really, all I would need to do would be to put a lot of thought into a plan for marketing and distribution, and then commit my energy into following through when the time comes.

And I guess I’ve been learning some skills toward that goal, too … in other, unrelated fields I’ve been doing some “event management” — I’m currently producing a play in two cities, and *just* committed to heading the Programming Committee of an organization I’m involved with. This means learning how to make connections, contact people, ask for things, set up commitments and make arrangements.

Wow. I started this comment thinking I’d be defending the traditional route of publishing. You’ve just made me think through it and realize I have almost all the tools I need to do it myself.

Yes, overwhelmed, underpaid, and lacking enough ”life” experience to decide on what the next decades of libraries might put on the shelves to help bind communities together. But those agents know who to sip champagne, or knock back beer with, to get the book where it might sell. I would choose a country like Australia, or Britain first, where it is much easier to break into the market, and when published there, bring it to distributors in the USA as”evidence”. At the same time kindle is international I know. And base your ”publishing company” in some foreign land that looks exotic, so you stand out. Somewhere, say, where us middle-agers are also still exotic! Belarus springs to mind.

Thank you for sharing this. I have wanted to write my whole life, and to be a published author would be incredible. If you don’t mind, I may contact you later with a few questions about self-publishing.
Rainey

What resonated the most with me was “inexplicable confidence” and “unshakable insecurity”. Yes and yes to that!
Actual printing is not on my agenda, though with a study-related book like yours it makes a lot of sense to have something physical to work with.
My plan is to use Amazon and possibly Smashwords/other websites and their tools for publishing in e-book formats. I have to do a lot of typesetting with LaTeX (to PDF) professionally, so I will try to eventually convert that to the e-book formats. Since you mentioned you had some issues with that, I’ll let you know how it went!

I think conversion to e-book format has gotten easier since I last tried. I doubt physical books will go away any time soon, but the electronic version is definitely here to stay. It’s time for me to catch up.

Sir Charles, I am going to publish my first non fiction book with createspace in November. I read your article, but you have not shared your experience with Amazon there. I myself prefer physical books more than ebooks. So I thought of going with createspace and I am also publishing with Kindle. But I want to know, do they help in marketing the books and what’s the importance of the book’s name in the whole process? And I too have doubt about the pricing of my book.
I have so many other questions to ask you regarding self publishing, as this is my first step in this field. I was even thinking about mailing you. But then I thought it would not be right to email you, without your permission.

Both Amazon and CreateSpace offer marketing services, but you have to pay for them. It’s hard to say how effective they are. You could end up spending a lot of money, with unsatisfying results. The book’s title and cover are very important; if you don’t feel confident in your design skills, you may want to invest in that. CreateSpace offers cover design as its own service. The good news is that the books are printed only as they’re ordered, so there’s almost no initial investment, and you can make changes to a book even after it’s been published.

Feel free to email me, Arindam. I’m still learning about these things, too, but I’d be happy to share what I know. And good luck with the book.

Great information in this post. I self-published with iUniverse last Christmas. My husband is clearly better at marketing than me as several of his friends have bought the book, but other than that few sales. I paid to have it professionally reviewed (blueink) and got very positive comments from them, but the shy introvert in me takes over whenever I consider sales or marketing. Any other ideas or tips? Maybe an updated post on self-publishing… Nanette

Congratulations on the book, Nanette. I don’t have much advice about marketing or self-promotion. I think most writers have a similar shy-introverted personality, so going around trying to attract attention to ourselves feels unnatural. I think writers have to promote each other — which also requires working around our own insecurities. Do you have a website?

I did have a website, but I let my go daddy account expire. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to put on the website. I started a blog this summer. I may eventually purchase my domain name again and move the blog there as a way to help market my book.